Lighter of the disposable type having a bottle-opener for bottles with crown-corks, which is attached to said lighter

ABSTRACT

Lighter of the disposable type having a bottle opener, for bottles with crown-corks (bottle caps), which is attached to the said lighter.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is an International phase application corresponding tothe International application No. PCT/AT83/00032 filed Oct. 31, 1983 andbased, in turn, on German International applications of Nov. 2, 1982,Dec. 6, 1982 and Jan. 28, 1983 and upon an Austrian application of Aug.8, 1983.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a lighter, more particularly a disposablelighter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Lighters are known in the widest variety of designs. So-calleddisposable lighters usually consist of an elliptical, rectangular orcircular housing at the top of which is located the burner head with anactuating part consisting of a fuel-release lever and an ignitingfriction wheel. These mass-produced, and therefore inexpensive,disposable lighters have attained considerable success on the market,and almost everybody carries such a lighter.

Also known is a very wide variety of openers for bottles withcrown-corks or bottle caps. Thus the user of a lighter who also wishesto keep a bottle-opener handy must always carry two separate articleswith him; these take up a relatively large amount of space and it isalways possible to mislay one article or the other.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is the purpose of the invention to provide a lighter which may alsobe used to open bottles having crown-corks.

According to the invention, this purpose is achieved by means of anopener for bottles with crown-corks which is connected to a lighter. Inthis way, a single article provides a flame and opens the crown-cork ofa bottle. The combination of a lighter and a bottle-opener produces avery handy unit which takes up little space. Furthermore, the danger ofmislaying the combined unit is lessened since, when the user thinks oftaking the lighter with him, the bottle-opener goes along too, andvice-versa. In this way, the lighter and bottle-opener are always athand.

According to one configuration of the invention, the lighter housing hasan indentation bounded on one side by a bent tongue and, on the otherside, by a lever surface in the form of an extension of the relevantedge of the indentation. This arrangement of the bottle-opener directlyin the lighter housing produces an extremely compact unit with noprojections, thus causing less wear in the pockets of clothing.

The design described hereinbefore, however, requires substantial changesin the housings of known lighters. According to another feature of theinvention, therefore, a lighter is provided which can be produced quitesimply and almost without any change in the existing shape of thehousing. In one embodiment, this is made possible by arranging thebottle-opener in the vicinity of the fuel-release lever of the lighter.In this case, the said bottle-opener is secured to the lighter-housingimmediately below the open-position of the said fuel-release lever.

Nor is any change required in the conventional lighter-housing if,according to another characteristic of the invention, the bottle-openeris arranged upon a sleeve adapted to be slipped onto the lighter. Inthis case, the bottle-opener is preferably held, in the non-operativeposition, in or on the lighter-sleeve, whence it can be folded or slidinto the operative position. According to one possible design, thebottle-opener is in the form of a S-shaped lever adapted to slidelongitudinally between the slip-on sleeve and the lighter-housing, oneend of the said lever carrying a bent tongue for opening the crown-cork,while the other end carries a bent stop which limits the path of travelof the said lever.

In order to keep the stresses on the lighter housing during the openingof a bottle as low as possible, provision is made, according to apreferred example of embodiment of the invention, to arrange on thelighter, at a distance from the hook for engaging the crown-cork, aprojection designed to bear upon the said cork. The combination,according to the invention, of a hook and a corresponding projection,makes it possible to use the lighter housing as a double-ended lever,the length of the load- and force-arm being clearly defined by thelocation of the projection. Moreover, the forces necessary to open thecork cannot become unacceptably high as a result of inadvertentdisplacement of the bearing point. The said projection is preferablydesigned, at least in part, as a part of a cylinder, more particularly acircular cylinder, thus ensuring reliable bearing against the cork.

The hook is preferably equipped with stepped tooth-like projectionswhich grip the crown-cork reliably.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention is explained hereinafter in greater detail in conjunctionwith the examples of embodiment illustrated in the drawing attachedhereto, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view of a side elevational lighter according to theinvention placed upon the neck of a bottle having a bottle cap shownpartially in section at the start of the opening process;

FIG. 2 is a similar view at the end of the opening process;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of the sleeve with the hook pivotedinwardly;

FIG. 4 is an end view in the direction of arrow IV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view of the hook in the direction of arrow V in FIG. 3; and

FIGS. 6 to 12 show additional examples of embodiment of the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to FIGS. 1 and 2, a lighter comprises an elongated housing 1at the top of which are arranged, in known fashion, a friction wheel 2and an actuating lever 3 for the gas valve in a lighter head.

A sleeve 4 is slipped over the end of housing 1 remote fromfriction-wheel 2 and is preferably welded to the said housing. Mountedpivotably on the bottom 5 of the said sleeve is a hook 6, the pivot-axisbeing formed by riveting the material of the hook. As may be gatheredfrom FIG. 5, hook 6 is equipped with stepped tooth-like projections 7.

Arranged on the side of sleeve remote from hook 6 is a projection 8designed as a part of a cylindrical surface.

If the lighter is to be used to open a crown-cork, hook 6 is pivoted outof the position shown in FIG. 4 in full lines, through 90°, into theposition shown in dotted lines. The lighter is then placed, as shown inFIG. 1, upon the crown-cork, in such a manner that hook 6 engages underthe edge of crown-cork 9. At this time, stepped tooth-like projections 7can engage effectively with two teeth 10 on the said crown-cork.Projection 8 now bears upon the central part of the crown-cork in such amanner that, when a force F is applied to lighter housing 1, the latteracts as a double-ended lever having a load-arm L and a force-arm K. Thelengths of the two arms of the lever remain substantially equal untilthe crown cork has been opened and the position according to FIG. 2 hasbeen reached.

It has been found that the force F necessary to open a crown-cork is ofthe order of approximately 55N.

In the absence of projection 8, it would be possible for lighter housing1 to bear relatively quickly upon the end of the crown-cork facing hook6, thus lengthening the load-arm and shortening the force-arm.

FIGS. 6 to 8 illustrate alternative ways of securing a bottle-opener 11to bottom 12 of lighter-housing 1. In FIG. 6, lighter housing 1 is ofcircular cross-section and bottle-opener 11 is fitted eccentrically tobottom 12 of housing 1 in such a manner as to pivot in the direction ofarrow 14. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, lighter housing 1 is ofrectangular cross-section and bottle-opener 11 is secured to bottom 12of housing 1, by means of an elongated hole 15, allowing it to move inthe direction of double-arrow 16. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, housing 1is again of rectangular cross-section and bottle-opener 11 is secured tobottom 12 of housing 1, by means of hinge 17 running parallel with therelevant narrow side of the said housing, in such a manner as to fold inthe direction of double arrow 18. Hinge 17 is made stiff in order tolock the bottle-opener in both the operative and the inoperativeposition.

In the example of embodiment according to FIG. 9, bottle opener 19 is inthe form of an S-shaped lever 21 adapted to move longitudinally betweena slip-on sleeve 20 and lighter housing 1. One end of lever 21 in in theform of a bent tongue 22 for opening the crown-cork, while the other endthereof is in the form of a bent stop 23 which limits the path of travelof the said lever. In this case, therefore, bottle opener 19 is adaptedto be moved into an operative and an inoperative position.

In the embodiment according to FIGS. 10 and 11 (FIG. 11 being across-section along the line XI--XI in FIG. 10), housing 1 has a burnerhead 30 arranged at the upper end and comprising a friction-wheel 24 anda fuel-release lever 25. Located below this lever is the functional partof bottle-opener 26. The one-piece bottle-opener consists of afunctional part projecting from housing 1 in the form of a hook 27 withtwo bends, and a retaining part 28 secured between housing 1 andburner-head 30. Retaining part 8 is in the form of a plate 29 withopenings 40, 41 for the passage of burner nozzle 42 and flint-holder 43.

In the variant according to FIG. 12, the lighter housing is ofelliptical cross-section with a burner-head 30 at the top comprising afuel-release lever 45 and a friction wheel 46. Located at the lower endof housing 1 is in an indentation 47 bounded on one side by a benttongue 48 and, on the other side by a lever-surface 49 in the form of anextension of the relevant edge of the said indentation. The side oftongue 48 facing lever surface 49 has a surface 50 which engages underseveral crimps in the crown-cork. When bottle opener 51, thus integratedwith the lighter, is in use, lever surface 49 comes to rest upon theupper surface of the crown-cork on a bottle and, at the same time,surface 50 of tongue 48 engages under several crimps in the crown-cork.When lighter housing 1 is pressed down, the crown-cork is lifted fromthe bottle.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are define as follows:

I claim:
 1. A disposable lighter, comprising:an elongated lighterhousing having an axis; a lighter head formed on one end of said housingand including a valve controller for releasing a fuel and a striker forigniting the released fuel; a member movably mounted on said housing andprovided with a free end having a hook-shaped formation engageable withan edge of a bottle cap for enabling the prying of said bottle cap fromthe mouth of a bottle; and support means connecting said member to saidhousing to enable said formation to be shifted into a position whereinit is spaced from a portion of said housing which can be brought to bearagainst said cap to apply lever action thereto in the prying of said capfrom said mouth, and a position in which said formation is relativelyproximal to a surface of said housing so that catching in a pocket isavoided, said support means including a sleeve having a flat end, saidmember having a plate pivotally mounted on said end of said sleeve forswinging movement about an axis parallel to said axis of said housingbetween said positions.
 2. The lighter defined in claim 1 wherein saidsleeve is of oval configuration.
 3. A disposable lighter, comprising:alighter housing; a lighter head formed on one end of said housing andincluding a valve controller for releasing a fuel and a striker forigniting the released fuel; a member movably mounted on said housing andprovided with a free end having a hook-shaped formation engageable withan edge of a bottle cap for enabling the prying of said bottle cap fromthe mouth of a bottle; and support means connecting said member to saidhousing to enable said formation to be shifted into a position whereinit is spaced from a portion of said housing which can be brought to bearagainst said cap to apply lever action thereto in the prying of said capfrom said mouth, and a position in which said formation is relativelyproximal to a surface of said housing so that catching in a pocket isavoided, said formation having a pair of stepped toothlike projections.4. The lighter defined in claim 3 wherein said support means includes asleeve carrying said member and fitted onto said housing.
 5. The lighterdefined in claim 4 wherein said member is pivotally connected to saidsleeve at an end thereof.
 6. The lighter defined in claim 5 wherein saidmember is pivotally connected to said sleeve for swinging movementbetween said positions about an axis offset from an axis of saidhousing.
 7. The lighter defined in claim 4 wherein said member islinearly shifted on said sleeve and has an S configuration defined inpart by a bent stop at an end of said lever opposite said formationlimiting the displacement of said lever.